Author Archives: admin

A hopeful Aga saga – In the poorest bit of the former Soviet Union they look to a leader of yore Economist Aug 20th 2016 The region of Badakhshan, which covers most of the eastern half of Tajikistan but hosts … Continue reading →

Superscript – The country celebrates an ingenious writing system Economist Oct 10th 2015 “Like trying to fit a square handle into a round hole” is how Sejong the Great, a Korean king, viewed the practice of using hanja, classical Chinese … Continue reading →

Peeved in Punjab Economist Nov 28th 2015 The Sikh religion provides for a gathering of believers, the Sarbat Khalsa, in times of great crisis. It was convened regularly in the 18th century, when the Mughal empire was trying to exterminate … Continue reading →

National Geographic. The June, July, and August issues of NG each look at a shark species with notorious reputations. Vital to the seas, they are not as scary as you might think. After the movie Jaws came out in the … Continue reading →

Politics has not kept pace with social change Economist May 4th 2017 Last year millions of South Koreans took to the streets to secure the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, their conservative president. She is now behind bars; her trial, on … Continue reading →

Far from bolstering generosity, a religious upbringing diminishes it Economist Nov 7th 2015 An argument often advanced for the encouragement of religion is that, to paraphrase St Matthew’s report of Jesus’s words, it leads people to love their neighbours as … Continue reading →

Even with insurance, American medical care can be ruinous Economist Apr 22nd 2017 Although Donald Trump occasionally pokes it in the ribs, the fight seems to have gone out of the Republican effort to reform America’s health-care system. That is … Continue reading →

Slow climb back for Nunavut’s seal export industry after exemption from EU import ban Rannva Simonsen of Rannva Design received half of the 61 seal export certificates issued by the Government of Nunavut since August 2015. She exports her products … Continue reading →

GENOCIDE Economist Apr 22nd 2017 Hage Geingob is in a bind. After years of perkiness, Namibia’s economic growth rate shrank from more than 5% in 2015 to a dismal 0.1% last year—and may now have stalled completely. But though President … Continue reading →

Economist Dec 19th 2015 A phroase is repeated like a mantra around Ulaanbaatar, the steppe capital: “Mongolia is back in business.” The prime minister, Chimed Saikhanbileg, has said it several times. Foreign mining executives and diplomats have also taken up … Continue reading →